Austrian far-right head urges rivals to let him govern after election win

The Freedom Party (FPO) secured about 29 per cent of the vote on Saturday, a historic first for a party founded by a Nazi

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The leader of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPO), Herbert Kickl, holds a press conference on the coalition talks that are beginning after the FPO won a plurality of the vote in parliamentary elections, but fell short of a majority, in Vienna, Austria, on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:58pm, 5 Oct 2024

The head of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, which won this week’s parliamentary election, urged other parties on Saturday to accept that he should lead the next government and warned them against forming a “coalition of losers”.

The Eurosceptic, Russia-friendly Freedom Party (FPO) led by Herbert Kickl secured about 29 per cent of the vote in last Sunday’s election, a historic first for a party founded in the 1950s under a leader who had been an SS officer and Nazi lawmaker.

It is still well short of a majority. That means it would need to assemble a coalition to control most seats in parliament and form a stable government. The only party that has left the door open to a coalition, the ruling conservative People’s Party (OVP), has ruled out joining a government with Kickl in it.

“I believe a coalition of losers would be an absolutely fatal signal to voters,” Kickl said in a statement to the media after he met President Alexander Van der Bellen on Friday, adding that it would be a “slap in the face” to the electorate.

He repeated his election night message that his party’s hand is outstretched to the four others in parliament, and that he believes voters gave the FPO a mandate to govern.

Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen makes a statement in the presidential chancellery on the occasion of result of the National Council election in Purkersdorf, on September 29. Photo: dpa

The OVP is in a position to be kingmaker since in principle it could either give the FPO a majority as junior partner to it in a ruling coalition or lead a separate, three-way coalition with the Social Democrats (SPO) and a smaller party.